Attitude

Don't let Rielyn's cute little face fool you! She is already starting to get an attitude! I've been struggling with her at night for her to put on her PJ's when I ask her to. So, the other night after asking her 2 times, I said I was going to count to 10 and if she didn't have them on then no story before bed. So, what did she do? She looked at me and counted to 10 with me...not putting her PJ's on! So, I was very frustrated and up until this point I will admit I've been terrible about threatening and not following through, but I told her "no story"! She immediatly started putting her PJ's on and I said, "I'm sorry, you didn't do it when I asked you to, so no story...no matter what you do now!" She started balling and was SO upset. But, I told her when she went to bed that I still loved her, but that she needed to start obeying me. So...I thought we had things a little better under control since I followed through for once...until today! She loves picking flowers (anywhere, whether they are in a pot, wildflowers or whatever) and we were at the chiropractors office and she ran out the door to the flowers. I yelled, "Rielyn you better not pick ANY of those flowers!" I know she heard me because she turned around, looked right at me then turned and ran to the flowers and picked one right as I chased after her and grabbed her arm. So, I spanked her right there (it's almost just a reflex now) and she said "that didn't hurt". Oooh, not a good thing to say when you're already in trouble! So, I said "you're going to go straight into time out when we get home" to which she replied "I don't care". Then she said "I'm going to go to sleep in the car so I don't have to go to time out". To which I replied, "you will still go to time out when you wake up!". Why I was arguing with a 4 year old about how the time out was going to take place is beyond me! So, I'm so frustrated at this point that no punishment seems to be affecting her. So, I tried the no story thing from the other night and her comeback was "I'll just tell myself a story then." All of this of course with attitude! AGHHH! So, I finally came up with something that affected her. She normally has a half a cup of chocolate milk before her naps and I said "no chocolate milk for your nap today...AT ALL!" And that did it! I won! Doesn't that sound terrible? So, I did follow through with that too and maybe that's what created little miss attitude to begin with...mom not following through with punishment! So, I've learned my lesson and hopefully it's not too late to get on the right track to being a good parent! P.S. Any advice on other parenting techniques for little girls with attitudes is welcome! :)